8 Comments

Great post Lee –
I’ve also heard:
“pastors are out of touch w/real life”
“sermons are too one-sided”
“church cliches/jargon are not inclusive of outsiders”

Pastors need to get back into the “praxis” of life taking an exegetical approach to culture/news/art/real life so we can see how relevant the gospel actually is to life in 2010. They also need to deconstruct the shallowness of living in the “fish bowl” so they can look good to everyone. Being honest about their struggles/fears/doubts so they can be seen as real people takes courage, but so did getting up on that cross.

Dialogues are always better teaching/relationship building tools than monologues. The incarnation is most effective in two sided conversations – not one sided. For all the sermons Jesus gave, the dialogues he had with individuals/smaller groups were where the real life teaching moments took place.

Language has always been a barrier to the laity understanding their place before God. Way back in the day, liturgy in Latin was seen as the “only” way to properly engage in worship of God, but it lost the message and the people along the way. Today’s jargon & cliches used in the Christian “Ghetto” make those of us on the outside feel uncomfortable because we have no idea what those words mean (and I’d bet that most users of the jargon couldn’t come up w/consistent definitions either).

Church is one of the least engaging expressions of the most engaging topics on the planet. We answer too many questions for people. We ought to be providers of questions instead of providers of answers. We know the answer and The Answer draws people to itself. We need to ask questions powerful enough to dislodge people from their fallen world around them and then let their search for answers lead them to The Answer.

I hate church. I hate the country club feeling. I hate feeling like I have to smile every Sunday morning. I hate being at the mercy of the worship leader. I hate the old people that glare at the sound booth if things get too loud or we miss a slide during a song. I hate that we can’t get enough people to volunteer. I hate the consumer mentality. I hate shaking the hand of the person next to me. Unfortunately for me, I think that the church is God’s plan for reaching the world. God created us to live in community with each other. He created us to need companionship. We are incomplete unless we are both loved and loving and the church, God’s community of believers, is the place where we get both of those. Jesus said that world will know we are His by our love for each other. We are selfish, condescending, judgmental, culturally irrelevant, and hypocritical. We are also the earthen vessels that God chooses to pour His spirit into. I don’t know what the answers are. This is something that I have been struggling with, and I mean really wrestling with for years. All that I know is that I cannot quit the church. I have tried and it always ends poorly. For some reason, I need those glaring old people and they need me.

If I have any answer at all it is that I need to love better. I can change no one’s behavior but my own. I cannot force anyone to surrender to the Holy Spirit. All that I can do is surrender myself and let myself be the salt and light that Jesus talked about.

Where I come from, going to church is something that older generations do. It’s not that my generation is less spiritual, it’s just that we don’t see the point in confining yourself in a dusty building every Sunday morning for the sake of a God who exists everywhere. I know plenty of people who get spiritual fulfillment outside of an organized church.

Very interesting conversation! I’m a PK (Pastors Kid) so believe me, when I say I have heard a bazillion excuses as to why people don’t/didn’t come to church…

Let’s shift our view of “The Church” from the church in America to the church abroad…think internation church. Church under severe persecution. Do those Christians make a bazillion excuses as to why they don’t or didn’t go to church? NO WAY!!! They are there…despite imprisonment…toture…or ultimatly execution. Why is there such a difference between the church abroad, and the American church? Us in America don’t see God as everything we need…as the Creator of the Universe…as the Only way to be reconciled to the Father…You asked a solution to the problem of no one wanting to come to church…a solution to all the excuses people use of why they don’t or didn’t come to church that Sunday…or wednesday. The answer I believe is to work at showing them how big our God really is…How awesome He really is…and the plan He has for us as His church. I do believe that’s the only solution to this problem. Changing music styles, building designs, add so many outside activites you stay crazy busy…none of those are the answer…Show them the AWESOMENESS of God, and God will do the rest. Any thoughts?

Oh, and another thing…church isn’t about you. Your desires…what you want…if someone talked with you this Sunday…etc etc. Church is about the body helping the body grow and function how we ought…for the Glory of God. Until we understand that we will continue to make excuses…

In the Book of Acts church was something you ARE, not something you GO TO. Christians cared about each other seven days a week, not just barely tolerated each other for an hour on Sunday. I’m highly suspicious of the loud, repetitious “music ministry” (nowhere found in the NT) as a means to manipulate the mood of the crowd so they’ll give more and feel the way the pastor wants them to feel. It is a scientifically proven fact that repetitious music turns on pleasure chemicals in the brain and induces a semi-hypnotic state, and people become easier for “the leadership” to handle. I’m not a cash cow to be milked!